“Securing an FAA-certified MRO operation at Detroit Metro Airport has been one of the Authority’s strategic development initiatives because of the skilled, technical jobs such a facility would bring to our region,” said WCAA CEO Tom Naughton. “We look forward to welcoming Empire Aviation to its new home at DTW and to the opportunities having them as part of our airport community will generate.”

This new lease agreement provides Empire with its own facility at DTW to which it recently transferred its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 145 MRO Certificate – enabling Empire to expand its MRO operation at DTW to serve airline customers.

“The Airport Authority’s development team has worked tirelessly to earn our business, and thanks in large part to their efforts, we look forward to calling Michigan home,” said Michael Romano from Empire Aviation Services. “With this new lease agreement in place, we have just received FAA’s approval to move our MRO Certificate from New York to our new DTW facility. We hope to begin our work at Hangar Bldg. 425 in the next 30 days.”

As a result of the new lease Empire Aviation will immediately add fifty new, highly-skilled technology jobs to DTW at Hangar 425. Empire expects to end the year with as many as 90 employees and estimates that they will end the two-year lease term with 150 employees.

Empire had considered moving its FAA Certificate to Maine, Indiana, California or maintaining it in New York before selecting Michigan as the best location to invest in the company’s future growth.